Trying to repair a windows volume using linux

[stevenriz]

Hi everyone. Don't know if you can help me but I have a Dell D630 laptop with XP Pro that freezes at boot time. I mean, not even the numlock or caps lock keys work. No error, just a blank screen. The BIOS reads the drive properly. When I try to boot using the Windows XP CD, it says no drive found. I tried looking for the drivers but everything I download and put onto a floppy from Dell fails.

I know the disk is physically good. I am booting with a Knoppix CD and it can read the drive. So great, I put in a USB drive to copy the contents of the failed hard drive to the USB and when I get to the Document and Settings directory of the personal folder, Knoppix reports "input/output error" So it appears to have some pointer issues.

Running the ntfsfix utility in Knoppix runs successfully but doesn't seem to address this error.

Anyone have any ideas on what I can try now? Professional restore services are not an option 'here (no $$$)...

I posted this in the XP forum as well...

thanks!
Steve

 

[Grenage]

I'd trying using dd (or dd_rescue, which I think knoppix carries) to clone the old disc onto the new.

If the drive is failing, which sounds probably, you simply want to get the data onto a known good drive first.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area" - Major Mike Shearer

 

[geirendre]

Have you tried the old "chkdsk" command that you can
run from the Win-CD ?

 

[BadBigBen]

As answered in your other thread, use SystemRescueCD or BartPE, also others have mentioned the Recovery Console...

When I try to boot using the Windows XP CD, it says no drive found.

of course not, if the drive is hooked up to a SATA port, as Windows XP does not have native SATA support... but the Recovery Console only starts from the CD and loads the SATA drivers from the installed OS...

Dell D630 laptop with XP Pro that freezes at boot time.

does it even do that when you boot into Save Mode?


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[stevenriz]

thanks for the help. Yes BadBigBen, it froze even when I did Safe Mode Command Prompt. Here is what I did to recover the data... The input output error I've seen before from using Knoppix. I assumed it meant I had a bad fat and yes a chkdsk would most likely fix the problem but windows recovery wouldn't see the drive... Knoppix does have a crude ntfs repair tool (ntfsfix /dev/sd#1) but it just wasn't enough. so I went into the system bios and changed the sata operation from AHCI to ATA and the windows boot CD would now recognize the drive. I then did a repair and chkdsk. also a new MBR couldn't hurt I thought. Now the system tried to boot but still got to a point where I received a blue screen, even in safe mode, reading C0000128... either way the disk was physically good, it just seemed that windows was trashed. I then booted Knoppix again and was able to copy the user's documents and settings directory to the network. Ahhh but I noticed now all the copied files had yesterday's date and time on them. I didn't want. I don't know why that happened but again knowing the disk was good, I simply put it in another desktop's sata interface as a slave drive and was able to natively copy the data to the network. All dates and times were in tact. Now that I documented this, 1) I can quickly fix this problem the next time it happens and 2) since it will never happen again to me, it might help someone else haha....

 

[BadBigBen]

C0000128 error, denotes that the HIVE (REGISTRY) has been damaged/corrupt, and would need to be replaced, if you had System Restore active your could have tried to go back in time to a point where it may have worked...

but this is mood now, seeing that you probably already formatted it and reinstalled (or reimaged) the drive...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[stevenriz]

Well, Dell insisted on replacing the drive so I can still try those things. actually no, we don't have system restore installed. I take it it's a good thing to have but are there any downfalls to having it installed?

 

[BadBigBen]

I take it it's a good thing to have but are there any downfalls to having it installed?

1. Takes up disk space...

there are other caveats, but they do not out weigh the benefits, imho...




Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"